This book challenges traditional ideologies, pedagogies, and methodologies for learning about languages in early childhood. It examines language awareness as a critical component of early schooling for English monolinguals and includes a systematic review of language planning policies in ten English-speaking nations.

Martine Jago advances a case for teaching children under the age of seven about language: how language evolved; how language functions; how meanings are constructed; and how linguistic otherness is encountered and interpreted. This research is based on a longitudinal study of child development, literacy education, and teaching about languages other than English. Jago argues that early attention to language as a social and cultural practice supports linguistic skills and emotional responses - effect and affect. The book presents a new paradigm and a new framework for embedding language awareness within early years policies, classroom practices, and language learning processes as a foundation for building reflective, inclusive, and informed educational environments. This is reading for school leaders, regional directors, and national policymakers.